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I imagine that as EB5 regional centers and issuers rush to file project exemplars, we're probably going to see a lot projects that aren't fully baked when they get to USCIS. Is USCIS likely to have a threshold of what was or wasn't worthy of being filed prior to the enactment date? 

Ron Klasko: We really don't know. The procedure described in the bill is not an exemplar. The language is “approval of a business plan”, which seems to mean what we now call an exemplar and we don't know what standards would be applied. 

Traditionally the standard of an acceptable exemplar is that it is basically shovel ready. Assuming the exemplar is approved, it would mean that all the I-526`s would be immediately approvable. If there are any significant changes after the fact, then the exemplar would be of no further validity. Unfortunately, there's a catch 22 in all of this because the language of the bill does not grandfather other changes in the law, including significant changes to what counts for job creation. 

Ron Klasko asked:  Does the (Grassley Leahy) bill purport to give the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) and the SEC jurisdiction over foreign agents selling a US security who acts completely overseas? Do the registration requirements and compensation requirements in this bill seem to you to apply to overseas agents operating purely overseas? 

Ozzie Torres: I don't know that there's a clear answer to that from the provision in the bill regarding Regulation S. Obviously they're trying to impose some kind of jurisdiction which one could argue, or at least on the face of it seems like it would eradicate the Reg S exemption, but I really don't think that that's where it's going.

John Tishler: The provision that I think Ozzie is referring and that I think was in Ron’s question is on page 29 of the bill and it's entitled “Jurisdiction”. Like so many things I can't speak for exactly what was intended because I don't know, but when I look at it, it's got the qualifier, the jurisdictional enabler, which may refer to an action filed by the SEC. 

Ron Klasko: You can make the mistake of taking this bill too seriously or not seriously enough. On the one hand there are bills introduced everyday in the Senate, thousands of which are never discussed in committee or anywhere else. The difference here is that this is a rare, bipartisan bill sponsored by the lead Democrat and the lead Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and contains a lot of things that the Administration has been pushing for, so it apparently has the support of the Administration. Once you have agreements at that level, it is something you're going to take very, very seriously.  

With that said, the bill in many ways is extreme and it has already engendered a lot of opposition in the Senate. There are major advocacy efforts going on right now that show signs of being successful.